Court filing
STATUS REPORT (JOINT) by Cat Brooks, Rasheed Shabazz. (Mura, Andre)… — Brooks v. Thomson Reuters Corporation (Dkt. 271)
No. 3:21-cv-01418-EMC · Doc. 271 · Docket on CourtListener
Full text
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC Document 271 Filed 12/17/24 Page 1 of 8
Andre M. Mura (SBN 298541) Geoffrey A. Graber (SBN 211547)
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Ezekiel S. Wald (SBN 341490) Karina G. Puttieva (SBN 317702)
2 GIBBS LAW GROUP LLP COHEN MILSTEIN SELLERS & TOLL
1111 Broadway, Suite 2100 PLLC
3 Oakland, CA 94607 1100 New York Ave. NW, Suite 800
Telephone: (510) 350-9700 Washington, DC 20005
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Facsimile: (510) 350-9701 Telephone: (202) 408-4600
5 amm@classlawgroup.com Facsimile: (202) 408-4699
zsw@classlawgroup.com ggraber@cohenmilstein.com
6 kputtieva@cohenmilstein.com
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11 Attorneys for Plaintiffs and the Certified Class
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15 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION
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CAT BROOKS and RASHEED SHABAZZ, Case No. 3:21-cv-01418-EMC-KAW
18 individually and on behalf of all others
similarly situated, JOINT STATUS REPORT
19
REGARDING SETTLEMENT
20 Plaintiffs, ADMINISTRATION
v.
21 Judge: Hon. Edward M. Chen
22 THOMSON REUTERS CORPORATION,
23 Defendant.
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JOINT STATUS REPORT REGARDING SETTLEMENT ADMINISTRATION
Case No. 3:21-cv-01418-EMC-KAW
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC Document 271 Filed 12/17/24 Page 2 of 8
1 Pursuant to Civil Local Rule 16-10(c), the parties respectfully submit a status report on
2 settlement administration supported by a declaration of the settlement administrator, Angeion
3 Group (Steve Weisbrot).
4 There is no upcoming status conference on the Court’s calendar for this case, but the
5 parties are available to appear at the Court’s convenience if the Court has questions before the
6 claims period expires on December 27, 2024, or before the final approval hearing on February
7 13, 2025. 1
8 Status Report
9 Background. The Court granted preliminary approval of a class action settlement in this
10 case on October 11, 2024. ECF No. 259. The Court set a deadline of December 6, 2024 for putative
11 class members to submit a claim, opt out, or object. The Court later extended the deadline for
12 class members to submit a claim to December 27, 2024, per the parties’ request to allow more
13 time to stimulate claims. ECF No. 268.
14 Status of claims, opt outs, and objections. As of December 16, the settlement
15 administrator can report the following estimates:
16 Claims received 709,785 (709,320 electronic, 465 paper)
17 Claims likely to be validated for approval 125,000 – 150,000
18 Claims blocked as submitted by software
21.6 million
19 applications (bots)
20 Opt outs received by deadline 60 (59 electronic, 1 paper)
21 Opt outs received after deadline 0
22 Objections by deadline 0
23 Objections after the deadline 0
24 Based on these figures, the settlement administrator reports a claims rate of 0.313% -
25 0.375% and a dollar recovery per participating class member of $129.13 - $154.96. This claims
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27 1 For example, the parties can be available any day this week but would appreciate receiving
28 permission to appear by Zoom. The parties can confirm their availability by e-mail, if helpful.
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JOINT STATUS REPORT REGARDING SETTLEMENT ADMINISTRATION
Case No. 3:21-cv-01418-EMC-KAW
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC Document 271 Filed 12/17/24 Page 3 of 8
1 rate is lower than the claims rate of 1%-2.5% that was forecast at preliminary approval, which
2 reflected a dollar recovery per participating class member of $19.43-48.78. ECF No. 250 at 2.
3 Class counsel and the settlement administrator have been closely monitoring the claims
4 data. Two weeks before the original claim submission deadline of December 6, approximately
5 400,000 claims had been received, at a steady rate of about 100,000 claims per week. On
6 November 22, the settlement administrator reported to class counsel on their weekly status call
7 that its attempt to validate these submissions had unexpectedly uncovered an unusually large
8 number of suspicious submissions—approximately 330,000—that would likely not be accepted
9 for payment. These submissions were initially believed to be valid as they had made it past
10 multi-factor fraud-detection screening. Based on additional manual review, the settlement
11 administrator significantly revised its reporting, and the parties sought an extension of the
12 claims period, adding four more weeks to the seven weeks previously allotted for putative class
13 members to submit claims.
14 Steps taken to stimulate claims. The settlement administrator and class counsel have
15 taken multiple steps to stimulate claims. Before November 22 and thereafter, consistent with
16 the plan approved at the preliminary approval stage, the settlement administrator ran digital
17 advertisements across social media platforms and the Google Display Network, delivering
18 more than 73 million impressions and reaching an estimated 78.95% of potential class members.
19 The settlement administrator also issued print notice in USA Today’s California regional
20 circulation, and used sponsored search listings on Google to drive class members to the
21 settlement website. Class counsel promoted the settlement on the law firm’s social networks,
22 issued a press release, and sought interviews with news outlets to promote participation in the
23 settlement. Several news outlets reported on the settlement. 2
24 After November 22, the settlement administrator updated the advertisements to include
25 the $19-48 class members could expect to receive, ran additional social media advertisements
26 targeted towards the most successful prior placements, incorporated a sponsored listing and
27 2 E.g., SF Gate: tinyurl.com/57bn755b; Kron4: tinyurl.com/ms4pw6k9; Fox5 San Diego:
28 tinyurl.com/2hv7zejj; KTVU2 San Francisco: tinyurl.com/yc24bhz6.
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1 newsletter placement in TopClassActions, hired a popular social media influencer to publicize
2 the settlement on TikTok and Instagram, 3 and made repeated personal outreach to widely
3 circulated legacy media publications to cover the settlement. Class counsel also released
4 additional press releases and continued their outreach through media and their networks.
5 Following these additional efforts, the settlement administrator reported receiving an
6 additional 274,000 claims. On December 13, however, the settlement administrator reported to
7 class counsel that more than 220,000 of those 274,000 claims were flagged as suspicious, while
8 the remainder appeared valid. So, as of December 13, the total number of claims likely to be
9 accepted as valid ranges from 125,000 to 150,000. This reflects an anticipated claims rate of
10 0.313% - 0.375%, and a dollar recovery per participating class member of $129.13 - $154.96.
11 Through the December 27 deadline to submit a claim, the settlement administrator will
12 continue to run advertisements online reminding putative class members of the upcoming
13 deadline. It will also adjust the advertisements to feature only an estimated payment of $48,
14 which is the top end of the $19-$48 range previously approved for class notice. The settlement
15 administrator expects that final costs for class notice, claims processing and distribution will be
16 approximately $545,000. This is slightly higher than the $484,119 amount estimated at
17 preliminary approval, but accounts for the extended claims period and claims stimulation
18 efforts. See ECF No. 250 at 7.
19 The settlement continues to merit final approval. Along with this status report, the
20 settlement administrator is submitting a declaration attesting that a substantial portion of the
21 settlement class were likely exposed to the multi-faceted notice program. Decl. of Steven
22 Weisbrot of Angeion Group re: Status of Claims Filing (“Weisbrot Decl.”) at ¶¶ 4-7 (explaining
23 that the notice program reached more than 78% of the class before December 6). It also attests
24 that additional ad campaigns, beyond those already contemplated, are unlikely to
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26 3 Instagram and TikTok are redirecting shortened URLs. The TikTok post is available at
27 https://www.tiktok.com/@thelawyerangela/video/7446593635375648042, and the
Instagram post is available at
28 https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDYZVkAuZqt/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==.
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Case No. 3:21-cv-01418-EMC-KAW
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC Document 271 Filed 12/17/24 Page 5 of 8
1 meaningfully change the claims rate. Id. at ¶ 11. This information (and more) will also be
2 submitted in conjunction with final approval, but it is being offered now to assist the Court’s
3 review of the status of settlement administration.
4 Courts in this District have granted final approval to settlements with low claims rates
5 where, as here, class notice is adequate, and there are other indications, such as a small number
6 of objections or opts, that the class largely supports the settlement. In re Carrier IQ, Inc.,
7 Consumer Priv. Litig., No. 12-MD-02330-EMC, 2016 WL 4474366, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 25, 2016)
8 (0.14% claims rate); see also LaGorden v. Support.com, Inc., No. C 12-0609 JSC, 2013 WL 1283325,
9 at *6 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 26, 2013) (0.17% claims rate); In re Apple iPhone 4 Prods. Liab. Litig., No. 5:10-
10 md-2188 RMW, 2012 WL 3283432, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 10, 2012) (0.16% to 0.28% claims rate).
11 For these and other reasons, the settlement in this case continues to merit final approval.
12 The parties are available for a status conference at the Court’s convenience if the Court
13 has questions before the claims period expires on December 27, 2024, or before the final
14 approval hearing on February 13, 2025.
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Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC Document 271 Filed 12/17/24 Page 6 of 8
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DATED: December 17, 2024 GIBBS LAW GROUP LLP
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3 Respectfully submitted,
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/s/ Andre M. Mura
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Andre M. Mura (SBN 298541)
7 Ezekiel S. Wald (SBN 341490)
GIBBS LAW GROUP LLP
8 1111 Broadway, Suite 2100
9 Oakland, California 94607
(510) 350-9700
10 amm@classlawgroup.com
zsw@classlawgroup.com
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12 Geoffrey A. Graber (SBN 211547)
Karina G. Puttieva (SBN 317702)
13 COHEN MILSTEIN SELLERS & TOLL PLLC
1100 New York Ave. NW, Suite 800
14
Washington, DC 20005
15 Telephone: (202) 408-4600
Facsimile: (202) 408-4699
16 ggraber@cohenmilstein.com
17 kputtieva@cohenmilstein.com
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Attorneys for Plaintiffs and the Certified Class
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JOINT STATUS REPORT REGARDING SETTLEMENT ADMINISTRATION
Case No. 3:21-cv-01418-EMC-KAW
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC Document 271 Filed 12/17/24 Page 7 of 8
1 DATED: December 17, 2024 PERKINS COIE LLP
2
By: /s/ Susan D. Fahringer
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4 Susan D. Fahringer (SBN 21567)
Nicola C. Menaldo (pro hac vice)
5 Anna M. Thompson (pro hac vice)
1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900
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Seattle, WA 98101-3099
7 Telephone: (206) 359-8000
Facsimile: (206) 359-9000
8 SFahringer@perkinscoie.com
9 NMenaldo@perkinscoie.com
AnnaThompson@perkinscoie.com
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Hayden M. Schottlaender (pro hac vice)
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PERKINS COIE LLP
12 500 N. Akard Street, Suite 3300
Dallas, Texas 75201-3347
13 Telephone: (214) 965-7700
Facsimile: (214) 965-7799
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HSchottlaender@perkinscoie.com
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Gabriella Gallego (SBN 324226)
16 PERKINS COIE LLP
17 3150 Porter Drive
Palo Alto, CA 94304-1212
18 Telephone: (650) 838-4300
Facsimile: (650) 838-4350
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GGallego@perkinscoie.com
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Attorneys for Defendant
21 Thomson Reuters Corporation
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Case No. 3:21-cv-01418-EMC-KAW
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC Document 271 Filed 12/17/24 Page 8 of 8
1 ATTESTATION
2 Pursuant to Civil Local Rule 5-1(i)(3), I attest that concurrence in the filing of this
3 document has been obtained from the other signatory.
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5 /s/ Andre M. Mura
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JOINT STATUS REPORT REGARDING SETTLEMENT ADMINISTRATION
Case No. 3:21-cv-01418-EMC-KAW
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